HAGATNA, Guam (AP) - Completion of the first phase of Guam’s new Route 20 is expected by mid-May, with utility problems causing minor delays.

The road, also known as Tiyan Parkway, is close to 85 percent done. But Todd Pike, operations director in Guam for the contractor, said utility issues - including the discovery of a water line where the new road will connect to Sunset Boulevard - slightly delayed progress, the Pacific Daily News, a Guam newspaper, (http://is.gd/Jzb3C6 ) reported.

Washington state-based IMCO General Construction, the contractor on the project, is working with Guam Waterworks Authority on a plan to move the water line, according to Pike.

There’s no target start date for the project’s second phase.

The project broke ground in April 2014. The Guam government wanted it to be completed in less than a year.

Glenn Leon Guerrero, director of the Guam Department of Public Works, said rain and other factors added to the timeline.

There is pressure on the Guam government to open the road. Current access to Airport Road from Route 8 must be closed to meet federal airport safety requirements.

The project, with a price tag of more than $7 million, is the Guam government’s first major road project built from scratch in years, according to former Department of Public Works Carl Dominquez, who was in charge when the project began.

The first phase of the project was paid for by federal funds. For the second phase, which is expected to cost as much as $35 million, Guam lawmakers authorized a bond-borrowing approach.